As indicated in the previous section, producibility
must be addressed during every aspect of the design and development of a
product in order to achieve the desired outcome of affordable products that
meet the needs of the customer. During detailed design, it is crucial that the
Integrated Product Team (IPT) responsible for the product continue to include
a representative of manufacturing. As the product transitions to a final
detailed design, the IPT must ensure that every aspect of producibility has
been addressed. During this stage of the process, the IPT must continue to
focus on the needs of the customer as stated in the product goals (see 3.1) and on the product's key
characteristics (see 3.2). As
part of detailed design, product and process data are definitized through
prototyping and testing of hardware and processes. It is during detailed
design that the manufacturing plan, started as part of Step 3
(see 3.4 ), is
fully developed.

In this section, the three elements to address
producibility during detailed design are presented. The relationship of this
step, Step 4, to the other four steps and to the notional product cycle for
the development, production and support of a product in a typical
manufacturing enterprise is illustrated in Figure 4.1. Also shown
in this figure are the three elements of Step 4 and the time phasing of those
elements with the notional product cycle. As shown, it is recommended that
activity on all of these elements should commence soon after the start of the
detailed design phase, but that optimizing manufacturing (4.3 ) should continue almost
to the end of the production phase.

Figure
4.1 - The Five Producibility Steps

Engineering reviews using personnel who have not been
involved in the product development are a traditional method for assessing the
maturity of a design. In most cases, these reviews are conducted periodically
during the design phases. With respect to producibility, a specific
producibility engineering review (4.1) focused on the
maturity of manufacturing processes is an essential step in achieving
affordable products. Such a review should be accompanied by efforts to
error-proof the design (4.2) and to
optimize manufacturing (4.3 ). As
described in this section, these three activities are inter-related. Although
presented here as three separate elements, it is common practice to execute
all three elements together, since they complement each other, to result in a
final detailed design of a product that can be affordably manufactured.

With a management commitment to producibility (see Step 1), a
knowledge of the manufacturing processes available to the enterprise and its
suppliers (see Step
2), and attention to producibility during both conceptual design (see Step
3) and detailed design (Step 4), the enterprise can significantly enhance
the producibility of its products.

The three producibility system elements that are part
of addressing producibility during detailed design and a corresponding key
point for each are shown in Figure 4.2.

Producibility System Element

Key Point

4.1 Conduct Producibility Engineering Review

Determine if design can be
produced withavailable manufacturing capabilities.

4.2 Error-Proof the Design

Simplify the design to
minimizeproduction errors.

4.3 Optimize Manufacturing

Use prototypes and simulations
to evaluate thedesign and the manufacturing floor
capabilities,Conduct final design trade-offs.